Tuesday, November 12, 2013

The AFL truly is a special kind of a game – it’s the best sport in the
world to watch because it can be thrilling, intense and it’s tougher than any
other ball sport in the world. It combines skill and strength, finesse and
brawn and people of all shapes and sizes are suited to it.

But another of the great things about the game of football is in the way that
it’s governed. If you look at the soccer in Europe (and all over the world),
you could argue that the sport is governed completely by money. In the English
Premier League for instance, the richest clubs are the most competitive clubs,
and the small market teams really can’t compete. Superstars that establish themselves
at small clubs are almost immediately lured to bigger clubs for bigger wages.
The NBA and NFL are also dominated by what might be considered overtrading –
each team is so very different season to season.

Footy, on the other hand, is a very even competition in comparison, and trades
take place at an ideal frequency. We’ve certainly seen a number of questionable
ones throughout the history of the game. Here are some of the more dubious
decisions that footy clubs probably wish they could take back, many of which
involve picks (which does blur the lines somewhat).

Brendan Fevola to
Brisbane (2009)

Arguably one of the biggest trades of the last 5 or so years, Brisbane acquired
Fevola and pick 27 in exchange for promising youngster Lachie Henderson and
pick 12. The Lions couldn’t resist the thought of having two of the then
premier key position forwards in the competition. Unfortunately, this is one
move that simply didn’t turn work out in the long term. A problem player with a
string of off-field issues, Fevola went down with injury 11 rounds into the
2010 season, which was quite unfortunate. However, the offseason that followed
was filled with indiscretions from the wayward forward, which ultimately took
their toll on the Lions team and led to Fevola’s eventual sacking at the
beginning of 2011. Meanwhile, Henderson has developed into a solid swing player
for the Blue baggers and looks like he could kit up for many more matches.

Trent Croad/McFarlane
to Fremantle (2001)

This one’s is a little tricky because it involves a number of picks that were
already highly touted and turned into exceptional players. As we’ve heard many
times before, hindsight’s 20-20 but if there was one draft class the Dockers
didn’t want to miss out on, it was this one. Freo had picks 1, 4, 20 and 36 in
what could be described as the superdraft of the last 15 years. However, when
Hawthorn offered a duo of versatile swingmen in Luke McPharlin and Trent Croad,
the Dockers jumped at the chance, throwing in their pick 1, as well as their
second and third round picks. While Croad only lasted in Freo for 2 years,
McPharlin has had a long and prosperous career. But when you think of what
could have been, you realise how good an opportunity the Dockers had. The first
3 picks of the draft were Luke Hodge, Luke Ball and Chris Judd, who have all
been a part of premiership sides and have had fabulous careers. Further, Steve
Johnson, Sam Mitchell Leigh Montagna wou ld have been up for grabs with Freo’s
later picks. Meanwhile, they walked away with Graham Polak at pick 4, who
retired after just 111 games.

Jason Mooney to Geelong (1998)

Another one of those poor-in-hindsight decisions that came about from a team’s
need for a key position player. Geelong were after a big forward to replace Gary
Ablett (always a tall task). They went for Jason Mooney, a middle of the road
marking full forward – hardly worth a selection as early as pick 8. Mooney had
a nice 33-goal season in his first year with the Cats, but was soon overcome
buy injuries and retired 2 years later. With pick 8, Sydney got their hands on
a future 325 gamer in Jude Bolton, who ended up recording the highest number of
tackles of any player in the history of the game

Chris Groom to
Fremantle (1994)

Another one of Fremantle’s biggest trading blunders was sending a young Andrew
McLeod and the lesser know Matthew Collins to the Crows in exchange for
injury-prone forward Chris Groom. Again, the Dockers and their fans will be
imagining what could have been for many years. Groom played just 8 games in his
sole year with the club, while McLeod went on to play 340 games, win 2 Norm
Smith Medals and 5 All Australians and 3 Best and Fairest Medals for Adelaide.